Former Obama adviser David Axelrod has apologized for tweeting that Chris Christie is facing the “Bataan Death March of politics” amid the New Jersey governor’s ongoing controversies. Axelrod made the comments while sending out links about Republican candidates distancing themselves from Christie and the Star-Ledger’s revocation of its endorsement of him in last year’s election.

During his 21-hour speech on the Senate floor in September, Texas’s Ted Cruz was criticized for comparing his stand against Obamacare to the Bataan death march, a forced march of American and Filipino prisoners of war by Japanese solders during World War II. Cruz later personally apologized to Filipino veterans in a meeting.